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The Good the Bad and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us
Is barbie a good role model for girls
Barbie's influence on society
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Since her arrival in 1959, Mattel has sold over 1 billion Barbie dolls, making her the most successfully sold doll of all time. 1 billion girls since her inception have pretended to be flight attendants, cheerleaders, re-enacted marriages to Ken, cut her hair off, painted her face with magic markers, took clothes on and off, and exhausted every possibility of performative play. Feminists, Scholars, Artists, Psychologist, and Journalist, have contributed to the discourse about her detriment with the universal message that Barbie gives conflicting messages about body image and how a girl should take space in the world. In like manner, many have come to her defense. She’s just a doll, right? No, she is a brand, indestructible, until 2001,
In the essay 'Our Barbies, Ourselves,' Emily Prager explores the history of the Barbie doll and talks about the Barbie doll itself. Prager seems convinced that the Barbie doll was an object created by a man and that Barbie reeks of sexuality, sexual innuendo and serves as the anti-feminist embodiment of every man's fantasy. In her own expressive and persuasive modes to fashion an essay designed to persuade the reader that the Barbie doll is a twisted and corrupt tool designed by men to combat the feminist revolution. Though her attempts at persuasion are commendable, I was not swayed in my opinions on Barbie. If anything, I just found fault with this writer's point of view, and I found her accusations to be outrageous and her 'facts' to be completely wrong.
Imagine a world where women are the superior gender rather than men. Imagine a reality where women have full dominance in today’s modern society. However, the whole idea of feminism is to promote equality for both males and females; so that women are treated equally to men. It would be wrong to suggest women as the superior gender just as it is wrong to suggest men in that same light. Jane O’Connor’s story, Fancy Nancy: Fanciest Doll in the Universe, excludes the male gender which ultimately does not promote gender equality to her young readers. Although Fancy Nancy is a popular book series, Jane O’Connor demonstrates gender stereotypes
“If Barbie was designed by a man, suddenly a lot of things made sense to me,” says Emily Prager in her essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (Prager 354). Prager’s purpose for writing this essay is to explain the history of Barbie and how the doll itself has influenced and continue to influence our society today. Prager is appealing to the average girl, to those who can relate to the way she felt growing up with Barbie seen as the ideal woman. Emily Prager uses a constant shift between a formal and informal tone to effectively communicate her ideas that we view women today based upon the unrealistic expectations set forth by Barbie. By adopting this strategy she avoids making readers feel attacked and therefore
Steven Hoefflin performed a second surgery on his nose. Sadly, the operation left Michael with breathing difficulties. After a couple of years, he was seen on the red carpet with a smaller nose and lighter skin. Michael started to dramatically change his facial appearances with not only repetitive nose surgeries but his lips were smaller and he had cheek implants as well. During the years of his career it was recorded he had spent thousands of dollars on cosmetic procedures. It was also stated that Michael has had up to one hundred cosmetics surgeries, in a thirty-year span to achieve his idea of perfection (daily mail). Michael also wanted to obliterate the looks of his scornful father.
Similarly, in Some Assembly Required: Black Barbie and the Fabrication of Nicki Minaj, the author reads the appropriation of Nicki Minaj’s Black Barbie image as an attempt to challenge the shared notion of white Barbie image and to make it hers—Black Barbie. This Black Barbie image promoted Nicki Minaj as “hyperfeminine and hyper-real representation of a dismembered black Barbie doll” (Whitney 141). Whitney examines whether such appropriation could eliminate the hegemonic narratives of Barbie or whether it “leaves room for liberatory, pluralistic, and feministic interpretations” (142) and questions the definition of feminine identity by insisting on the fluidity of femininity. Even though her image does not escape criticism as she was being
Both “Siren Song” and “Barbie Doll” deal with the relationship between the individual human being and a society that imposes a dehumanizing conformity. Both poems also use their use of irony conveying between the human being and society, for example “Siren Song” has some use of verbal irony and situational irony in the sense that if the reader knew what a siren was, then they would know that it’s a warning and them being lured into this siren’s song would only result in death. “Barbie Doll” also uses verbal irony and situational irony when the poem speaks that the effort of making oneself look pretty and conform to society’s expectations only results in making oneself look worse and lose humanity.
In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros, the young girls didn't mind they did not receive other things such as new Barbie's or Ken Barbie's and the friends to go along with the dolls (206). These girls were just happy to play with their own dolls. The girls have bonded with each other and they enjoy playing with each other's dolls. A doll brings two or more children together for fun and social entertainment. Have you ever listened to a child frequently you will hear a child say " so what” that means the child really don't care, it don't matter; nothing else mattered to the two little girls. In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros to purchase a brand new Barbie doll meant that the dolls are expensive in the store so the girls are very happy and pleased to own a second hand Barbie. When the parent places the dolls in the child's hands the dolls take on the character of the owner's beauty; culture; how girls see themselves and the future when the kids are all grown up. Barbie is a fun toy to dress up. Each child has her or his own imagination of a Barbie doll. I, too, myself, like watching all the different cultural background Barbie dolls in the malls or Macy's Department Store around Christmas times. Most large department stores dress
The dolls that girl’s play with can influence them psychologically in how they think a woman should act, and gives them the idea that being hypersexual is okay. Barbie is a hot item when it comes to little girls that is all they want. Fashion expert Stephanie Hoskins talks about the effect Barbie has on young girls. Barbie is popular and she has so many clothes, what girl would not want to be like Barbie. In some countries Barbie is banned , “In 1995, Saudi Arabia banned the sale and purchasing of Barbie’s because it violated strict dress code for women” (Hoskins 1). The way Barbie dresses in some parts of the world is offensive. Maybe the USA should reconsider Barbie and the influence that she has. Even though the country she was banned in had strict dress codes for women maybe that is a good thing to have specific expectations for women. In Vanessa Br...
The Barbie is a simple toy, just a plastic woman with bendable arms and legs. The Barbie ad is simple, but will appeal to millions of girls, Barbie is advertised as a “teenage fashion model, which is where problems come into play. The effects of the image of Barbie have come into view. Barbie is made with unrealistic and unattainable dimensions for a real woman. Barbie has a large bust, tiny neck, legs, and arms, and an unattainable hip to waist ratio. As very young girls play with Barbies they begin to believe at a very young age that Barbie is what they are suppose to look like, Barbie is perfect, that must be why everyone has one. If Barbie was created with attainable body dimensions the negative effects would be far greater and numerous young children would not be continually striving for something which is not attainable, but has been impacting them for years. Additionally Barbie is harmful to the economy as a whole because it uses resources such as plastic, energy, and manpower to produce. While providing nothing but unreasonable body expectations and self esteem issues to the millions of little girls they are bought
A maiden aunt never marries because a river prawn bites her calf and, due to minimal treatment by her physician, nestles there to grow. She devotes her life to her nieces, making for them life-sized dolls on their birthdays and wedding days. When only the youngest niece is left at home, the doctor comes to see his patient and brings his son, also a physician. When the son realizes the father could have cured the leg, the doctor says, "I wanted you to see the prawn that has paid for your education these twenty years."
“Everybody feels like an outcast because the world is so large and every fingerprint is so vastly different from one another and yet all these standards and beliefs, and dogmatic systems of judgment and ranking in almost all the societies of the world” -Ezra Miller. All around us, cliches and standards are seen throughout culture. This is because judgment is a constant challenge in today's society. If one dress, acts or plays out of the considered normal, then those people are put into rankings and are distanced from everyone else. In today’s world, the experience of being an outcast is universal.
Stone, Tanya Lee. The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us. New York: Penguin Group, 2010. Print.
It may seem trivial and go unnoticed to most, but by assigning Barbie a real career, people are able to identify with and recognize her. The marketers also provide Barbie with a life other than modeling, such as friends and a home. The Ken doll, which is commonly known as Barbie’s boyfriend, makes her appear more real to the audience. Girls are able to identify with the idea of a boyfriend, which makes the notion of Barbie seem more realistic and desirable. The same idea is applied to the many friends Barbie has been accompanied by over the years. Lastly, and perhaps most famously, Barbie, like almost all of the girls who play with her, have a home. The Barbie Dream House is just another clever way her marketing team has presented her to society as a real person. Humanizing Barbie, and portraying her in such a manner makes her more attractive to potential buyers. The girls who engage in play with dolls do not want merely a doll; they desire something they can relate to and envision in the real world. Imaginative play is a large portion of childhood, and the ability for children to posses a doll like Barbie , who represents a real person in society, is extremely valuable. The use of social constructionism in the marketing of products such as Barbie is both brilliant and effective.
In A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, the main character Nora is being objectified by her husband Torvald. He treats her like a doll that can’t do anything without him. He orders her around, tells her what to wear, and how to dance the way he wants her to. She comes to realize this objectification through her interactions with Christine, Dr. Rank, and Krogstad.
Nor did I totally grasp the grim realities of how race and culture at times co-exist. Barbie, herself, established a sort of cultural barrier, where race, beauty, and culture intertwined. Her impact on culture is profound and has been influential in many areas of existence. Why was it important for me to choose the black Barbie? Was it culturally correct to do so? The premise of this paper is to address whether Barbie, the inanimate object everyone adores, contributes to the social segregation of our